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This months Daring Bakers challenge was an opera cake. The opera cake sounded pretty challenging having no less that five different components. The components included a cake, a syrup, a buttercream, a ganache and a glaze. The thing that I liked most about the challenge was that we were allowed to choose the flavours in the cake as long as the colours remained light. I decided to go with one of my current favorite dessert flavour combinations, green tea and white chocolate.

Note: I halved all the recipes for all components as I did not want such a large cake.

Green Tea Cake

The first component of the opera cake was of course the cake. The cake sounded pretty interesting because it used ground almonds. I wanted the cake to have a green tea flavour and have a green colour so I added some matcha. The cake came together pretty easily and it had a really nice shade of green.

Green Tea Syrup

The cake in the opera cake needed to be moistened with a syrup. The syrup was just a simple syrup with some added flavour. I remembered that I had seen some green tea liqueur and I though that it would go well in the syrup. The green tea liqueur was a nice dark green and it tasted like green tea and had hints of spices and berries. It added a nice aroma to the syrup and the opera cake.

Green Tea Buttercream

There was a bit of confusion with the recipe for the buttercream and in the end I was not sure what recipe to use so I used the recipe from the Perfect Party Cake challenge. I decided that I wanted the buttercream to be green as well so I added some matcha to it. The first time that I made buttercream it did not work out too well. The second time I got a nice finished product but it took about 20 minutes of beating the cream by hand. This time everything came together easily with less than 5 minutes of beating by hand in the final step. Given the amount of beating in the other components I was a bit relieved. The buttercream ended up with a nice light green colour and tasted great. Must keep fingers out of butter cream.

White Chocolate Ganache

The ganache was the first of the white chocolate components of the opera cake. I had made chocolate ganache before but I have never tried folding in whipped cream in addition to melting the chocolate into cream. The whipped cream left the chocolate light and fluffy. Unfortunately it also left the ganache a bit runny and a lot of the ganache ran out from the middle layer of the cake. Putting it in the fridge for a while fixed that problem though.

White Chocolate Glaze

The opera cake was topped with a simple white chocolate glaze that came together easily.

Assembling the Opera Cake

Assembling the cake was the funnest part of the challenge. After the cake was assembled I chilled it in the fridge and then trimmed the sides to get nice and straight edges.

Overall the opera cake was not too difficult to make and it turned out really good! It tasted great and it disappeared quite quickly! The slight bitterness of the green tea tempered the sweetness of the white chocolate nicely. The cake was nice a moist and light and creamy at the same time. I really enjoyed the opera cake challenge.

Green Tea and White Chocolate Opera Cake

ingredients

green tea cake (see below)

green tea syrup (see below)

green tea buttercream (see below)

white chocolate glaze (see below)

directions

Work on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Cut the cake into 4 6x7 inch pieces.

Place 1 sheet of the cake onto the baking sheet and moisten with syrup.

Spread 1/2 of the buttercream over the cake.

Place 1 sheet of the cake on top of the buttercream and moisten with syrup.

Spread the white chocolate ganache over the cake.

Place 1 sheet of the cake on top of the ganache and moisten with syrup.

Spread the remaining buttercream over the cake.

Place 1 sheet of the cake on top of the buttercream and moisten with syrup.

Pour the glaze over the cake and smooth it out.

Refrigerate until it sets, about 30 minutes.

Trim the sides to get a smooth finish.

Green Tea Cake

ingredients

3 large egg whites (room temperature)

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 cup ground almonds

1 cup icing sugar (sifted)

1 tablespoon matcha

3 large eggs

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter (melted and cooled)

directions

Line a 12 1/2 inch by 15 1/2 inch jelly roll pan with parchment and grease it with butter.

Beat the egg whites in a bowl until they form soft peaks.

Add the sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy.

Beat the almonds, icing sugar, matcha and eggs in another bowl until light and voluminous.

Add the flour and beat until the flour is just combined.

Fold the meringue into the almond mixture.

Fold in the butter.

Pour the batter into the pan.

Bake in a preheated 425F/220C oven until lightly browned and just springy to the touch, about 5-9 minutes.

Run a knife along the edges to loosen the cake form the pan.

Cover the cake with parchment paper, flip and unmold the cake.

Peel of the parchments paper flip and cover the cake while it cools.

Green Tea Syrup

ingredients

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon green tea liqueur

directions

Bring every thing to boil in a small sauce pan stirring until the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat and let cool.

Green Tea Buttercream

ingredients

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon matcha

2 large egg whites

3/4 cups unsalted butter (at room temperature)

directions

Mix the sugar and matcha in a small bowl.

Whisk the sugar and matcha into the egg whites in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until the mixture is hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. (The sugar should be dissolved and the mixture should look like shiny marshmallow cream.)

Remove the bowl from the heat and beat until the cream is cool, about 5 minutes.

Beat in the butter one stick at a time.

Beat the mixture until it thickens and becomes smooth, about 5-20 minutes.

Kevin, I always look forward to seeing the Daring Bakers delicious creations. I'd have to say that yours definitely sticks out with the beautiful colors and flavor combination. Great job! The recipe looks daunting :)

Wow, I must try this green tea and white chocolate combo!!! Sounds divine!!!I love the clean classic look of your cake, so very elegant! I would almost hate to tear into it with a fork, but alas what then would be the point? Very nice work on l'Opera!!!!

I almost went the green tea route myself, but as time got tight I hesitated to make too bright a mark on the original recipe. Looking at yours I wish I had... the vibrant color combination can only be indicative of how great it must taste!

this is different from the 'real' opera cake which is made from egg whites and almond powder and spread with the combination of ganache and coffee buttercream? you have neat layers there, Kevin. i'm really really impressed!

I've always been intrigued by green tea in cake... I'm almost ashamed to admit I've never tried it. Next time, next time... your cake is beautiful, your layers are so even and your icing looks impeccable.

I have to say, of all the opera cakes I have read about on the blogosphere, this one stands out by a mile. The idea of using green tea as a flavouring here is novel and a winner and I suspect tempered the sweetness of the whole cake somewhat too.

Anonymous: You have a number of options including simply skipping it entirely or replacing it with another liqueur such as a white chocolate or a vanilla or you could mix a bit of matcha into the syrup.

I've been wanting to make this cake for a while. I've learn how to properly beat egg whites, but should I buy ground almonds or grind them myself by blanching, toasting and grinding them? Maybe they will be too coarse and will stop the cake from rising.

this recipe looks incredible! if you don't mind, im going to be using it to make for a food competition at my school, but i have a question. for the almonds, is that a cup of the almonds after they are ground? or do i take a cup of blanched almonds, and then grind that and put whatever measure is left over into the mix?

Jane Veronis said: You have a number of options including simply skipping it entirely or replacing it with another liqueur such as a white chocolate or a vanilla or you could mix a bit of matcha into the syrup.

Hi, thank you for this recipe :). I made matcha cake from your recipe but with passion fruit mousse. Green Tea cake is just stunning! http://przepisy-aleksandry.blogspot.com/2011/07/ciasto-chamei-z-zielona-herbata-i-musem.html this is link to my green tea cake photos :).

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About Me

I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.